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Trio of Georgia offensive starters dressed out for Alabama in SEC Championship

On3 imageby: Jake Rowe12/02/23JakeMRowe

ATLANTA, Ga. — It appears as if Georgia could get three starters contributors back for its SEC Championship matchup with Alabama. The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs are warming up inside Sanford Stadium and junior wideout Ladd McConkey, junior tight end Brock Bowers, and redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Tate Ratledge are all in uniform.

We won’t know whether each of those players will enter the game until the action begins, but the fact that they are dressed out suggests that they are available vs. the No. 8-ranked Crimson Tide. All four of those players sat out Georgia’s 31-23 win over Georgia Tech last Saturday. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. ET on CBS. The Bulldogs are favored by 5.5 points less than an hour before kickoff.

McConkey missed the first four games of the season with a back injury. He then played in seven straight games where he racked up 418 yards and two touchdowns. He had a career high 135 yards and a touchdown in the Bulldogs 43-20 win over Florida. That started a three-game stretch where McConkey had at least four catches and 80 receiving yards.

The Georgia wideout suffered an ankle injury in the Bulldogs’ blowout of Ole Miss in week 11. He played the following week against Tennessee but only a handful of snaps in the fourth quarter before sitting out the Georgia Tech game where he did not dress out.

Bowers is Georgia’s leading receiver with 51 catches for 661 yards and six touchdowns. He suffered a high-ankle sprain in the Bulldogs win over Vanderbilt prior to the bye week. Bowers elected to undergo tight-rope surgery to help him recover from that injury sooner and he returned after missing just two games. He played against Ole Miss and Tennessee but sat out the contest against Tech. He did, however, dress out and go through pre-game warmup.

Ratledge did dress out for the Georgia Tech game but did not play. Like Thomas, he went down early in the Tennessee game after banging knees with a Volunteer defender. Prior to the Tech game, Ratledge had started 26 straight games at right guard, all Georgia victories. He has 27 starts in his career after starting the 2021 season opener at right guard but he suffered a season-ending lis franc injury (foot) in UGA’s 10-3 win over Clemson.

Junior wideout Rara Thomas is not dressed out for this game. He has been battling a foot injury the second half of the season, one that knocked him out of the Tennessee game early. He didn’t dress for Georgia Tech last week.

Kirby Smart stated on Thursday that he was unsure of the availability of these four players for the SEC Championship. He mentioned that he would know more after Thursday’s practice.

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